Arctic Sovereignty

Despite assurances to the contrary in the wake of last year's Polar Sea incident, the federal government provided only partial evidence of a renewed commitment to arctic sovereignty in 1986. Steps were taken to clarify Canada's position through the establishment of straight baselines around the arctic archipelago and the development of a Canadian Laws Offshore Application Act, but concrete measures to ensure a Canadian presence in the North fell short of expectations: surveillance overflights were increased only marginally, plans for naval manoeuvres in the eastern Arctic were scrapped, and the long-awaited Arctic Class 8 ice-breaker was conspicuously absent from Treasury Board spending estimates.

In September, CARC published an issue of Northern Perspectives that offered a critical review of what Secretary of State for External Affairs Joe Clark had pledged would be "effective control over the Northwest Passage and our other Arctic waters". Included was an article by retired Canadian Forces brigadier-generals Clay Beattie and Keith Greenaway on the proposed North Warning System (NWS), a multi-million-dollar upgrading of the 1950s-vintage Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line. Generals Beattie and Greenaway argued that placement of NWS radar sites along the southern rim of the arctic archipelago merely perpetuates an already obsolete system of defence; moreover, they noted, it fails to reflect the immediate need for Canadian surveillance over the Northwest Passage and arctic archipelago by suggesting that such duties be assumed by U.S.-based aircraft operating under the North American Aerospace Defence Agreement (NORAD) banner.

 As part of its efforts to make Canadians aware of the serious consequences of such a decision, CARC invited members of the media to a press conference in Ottawa. The ensuing story made front-page headlines in The Globe and Mail and was covered prominently by print and broadcast services across the country.

 In November, CARC Executive Director John Merritt, along with generals Beattie and Greenaway, met with Minister of National Defence Perrin Beatty to discuss the issue of Canada's sovereign interests in the North, and to express the concerns of many Canadians about the Arctic's expanding role in the strategic thinking of U.S. and Soviet military planners.

In 1987, we intend to continue our study of sovereignty and security issues in Canada's Arctic. CARC is planning a major examination of Canada's place in the international North; it will encompass a range of specific topics, many of them directly related to the ongoing debate over strategic interests and proposals for demilitarization of the arctic region.

 Circumpolar Relations

 The past year saw a breakthrough of sorts in efforts to place circumpolar relations squarely on the policy-making agenda. In June, the Special Joint Committee on Canada's International Relations issued its final report, Independence and Internationalism, which urged the federal government to consider a more prominent place for northern issues in Canada's external relations.

 In a chapter entitled, "A Northern Dimension for Canada's Foreign Policy" the committee issued a number of recommendations based on hearings at which CARC and other northern organizations made a strong case for greater international co-operation in the North. Noted the committee:

 The arctic region is rapidly becoming an area of international attention. Canada's huge stake in this region requires the development of a coherent arctic policy, an essential element of which must be a northern dimension for Canada's foreign policy.

 CARC is now in the process of laying the groundwork for an ambitious research and publishing project that will pursue the issue of Canada's place in the circumpolar world from several perspectives. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of specialists in Canada, the United States, the Soviet Union, and northern Europe, CARC plans to conduct an in-depth study of this country's potential for leadership in the circumpolar North.

 Indigenous Survival International and the Anti-Harvest Lobby

 Throughout 1986 CARC remained concerned about the damaging effect of the anti-harvest lobby on traditional Inuit sealing communities and on fur-trapping communities throughout Canada's North.

 Through Indigenous Survival International (ISI), a coalition of aboriginal peoples from Canada, Alaska, and Greenland, CARC helped challenge the anti-harvest lobby by increasing public awareness of the fact that cultural survival depends on continued subsistence activities, and by encouraging governments to adopt and enforce policies that will protect and enhance markets for wildlife products.

 CARC helped ISI organize an assembly of its members and supporters for a three-day meeting at Chisasibi in northern Quebec. In our March-April issue of Northern Perspectives, we reproduced the protocol of that meeting, a document stating that ISI intends "to pursue the protection of subsistence economies as essential to the cultural survival of Indigenous peoples". We devoted that issue of Northern Perspectives to an examination of the anti-harvest threat, highlighting the need to protect important markets for Canadian products now under attack.

 In June, CARC appeared before the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to urge the federal government to adopt a policy supportive of aboriginal resource harvesters, and to recognize that aboriginal peoples must take the lead in combating the anti-harvest movement. Some of CARC's suggestions will be embodied in the final report of the committee.

 CARC will continue to work on this issue, one of the most serious ever to be faced by northerners. As part of our National Symposium on the North in the 1980s, we are planning a full-scale discussion of the animal rights movement and its effects on aboriginal economies and cultures. Scheduled for January 1987 in Montreal, the meeting will feature representatives from many viewpoints within this often-controversial debate.

In addition, we will co-operate with federal politicians and officials, offering suggestions for a new policy regarding wildlife harvesting, and will continue to share information with industry groups such as the Fur Institute of Canada.

Finally, we will continue to offer our assistance to ISI as it seeks to ensure that aboriginal people will be able to harvest wildlife for their cultural, social, and economic needs into the foreseeable future.